Maryland Day in United States

Maryland Day is a legal state holiday in Maryland, the United States. Many people in Maryland commemorate the state’s history and heritage on or around March 25 each year.

Maryland's flag bears the arms of the Calvert and Crossland families.

©iStockphoto.com/chelovek

What do people do?

Many schools have special activities that enable students to focus on learning about their state’s history and developments on or around Maryland Day. Some community leaders and local politicians take the time to visit schools to talk about the importance of Maryland Day.

A special festival is held during this time of the year to commemorate Maryland Day. It is a collaborative event that is held in the state’s capital, Annapolis, and other parts of Anne Arundel County. It features activities and tours offered by cultural and heritage sites, as well as re-enactments, art exhibitions and children’s activities.

Public life

Maryland Day is a legal holiday in Maryland but it is not a day off for many workers or students.  If the holiday falls on a Sunday, it is observed the following Monday, according to law.

Background

Maryland Day commemorates the landing of Lord Baltimore and first colonists on St Clement’s Island (in Maryland) in 1634. The Maryland colonists held a special ceremony to give thanks for their safe arrival on March 25, 1634. They came to the colony aboard two ships, the Ark and the Dove.

Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, founded the colony under a charter that British King Charles I granted on June 20, 1632. They wanted to establish a colony where Roman Catholics, as well as everyone else, could practice their religion.

The king gave the colony to the Calvert family as a gift, on the conditions that the king was paid an annual rent of two arrowheads and that the colony must be named after his wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. It was called “Mary-Land” or Maryland, as it is known today. The celebration to commemorate this event began in Maryland schools in 1903 and it was made an official state holiday in 1916.

Symbols

Maryland has various state symbols, such as:

• The Baltimore Oriole, the official Maryland bird.
• The Black-Eyed Susan, the state flower.
• The Patuxent River Stone, the state gem.
• Maryland, My Maryland, the state song.
• The White Oak, the state tree.

Maryland's flag bears the arms of the Calvert and Crossland families. Calvert was the family name of the Lords Baltimore who founded Maryland, and their colors of gold and black appear in the first and fourth quarters of the flag. Crossland was the family of the mother of George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. The red and white Crossland colors, with a cross bottony (symbol having a bud, button or a kind of trefoil), appear in the second and third quarters.

Maryland Day Observances

Other holidays in March 2013 in United States

• Read Across America Day ―Friday, March 1, 2013
• Self-injury Awareness Day ―Friday, March 1, 2013
• St. David's Day ―Friday, March 1, 2013
• Texas Independence Day ―Saturday, March 2, 2013
• Casimir Pulaski Day ―Monday, March 4, 2013
• Town Meeting Day Vermont ―Tuesday, March 5, 2013
• International Women's Day ―Friday, March 8, 2013
• Daylight Saving Time starts ―Sunday, March 10, 2013
• World Kidney Day ―Thursday, March 14, 2013
• Pi Day ―Thursday, March 14, 2013
• Evacuation Day ―Sunday, March 17, 2013
• St. Patrick's Day ―Sunday, March 17, 2013
• Evacuation Day ―Monday, March 18, 2013
• March equinox ―Wednesday, March 20, 2013
• International Day of Happiness ―Wednesday, March 20, 2013
• World Poetry Day ―Thursday, March 21, 2013
• World Down Syndrome Day ―Thursday, March 21, 2013
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ―Thursday, March 21, 2013
• International Day of Nowruz ―Thursday, March 21, 2013
• World Water Day ―Friday, March 22, 2013
• World Meteorological Day ―Saturday, March 23, 2013
• Earth Hour ―Saturday, March 23, 2013
• International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims ―Sunday, March 24, 2013
• World Tuberculosis Day ―Sunday, March 24, 2013
• Palm Sunday ―Sunday, March 24, 2013
• International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members ―Monday, March 25, 2013
• International Day of Remembrance of Slavery Victims and the Transatlantic Slave Trade ―Monday, March 25, 2013
• Seward's Day ―Monday, March 25, 2013
• First day of Passover ―Tuesday, March 26, 2013
• Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day ―Tuesday, March 26, 2013
• Maundy Thursday ―Thursday, March 28, 2013
• Good Friday ―Friday, March 29, 2013
• Holy Saturday ―Saturday, March 30, 2013
• César Chávez Day ―Sunday, March 31, 2013
• Easter Sunday ―Sunday, March 31, 2013